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The Hundred Acre Wood and The Search for Heffalumps and Woozles


twaffle

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Love the playful elephants! It's interesting, but Pooh has been making appearances on ST a lot lately - I had brought him up in @@michael-ibk's TR about a chubby rat that reminded me of when Pooh got stuck in Rabbit's 'door' to his house after eating too much Hunny, and he came up another time recently too as I recall!

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Love the playful elephants! It's interesting, but Pooh has been making appearances on ST a lot lately - I had brought him up in @@michael-ibk's TR about a chubby rat that reminded me of when Pooh got stuck in Rabbit's 'door' to his house after eating too much Hunny, and he came up another time recently too as I recall!

Yes, the elephants too--a main event at Mana Pools. Lovely animated shots. Did you mention Winnie the Pooh, safarichick? I saw him, yes I did, the real Winnie the Pooh statue in Winnipeg! Right there in front of me! :P

Edited by Atravelynn
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@@twaffle super report, tales of Chitake always make me misty-eyed. A whole year to wait until we head back there with Doug.

 

Loving the whole thing. Six nights at Mucheni 4 to come, I can't wait. Thanks for sharing.

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@@Atravelynn yes, Pooh (and Rabbit) made an appearance in Michael's trip report here in post 282 http://safaritalk.net/topic/16424-blue-cape-white-waters-red-dunes/page-15 - he does get around, doesn't he? And you saw the real Pooh in person? Wow!

That's a report I need to delve back in. I'll have to jump in there and brag about my personal Pooh experience when I get to page 15 of the red and white and blue report!

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@@Zim Girl @@Atravelynn @@SafariChick @@ld1

Thanks for engaging in this report, it makes it much more worthwhile. Winnie the Pooh should make more appearances on Safaritalk in my opinion.

 

I often thought that everywhere I stepped in Mana Pools, there would have been many Safaritalkers walking the same ground with Doug in times past. I think he must hold the record for having met the largest number of Safaritalkers ever.

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Mana Pools terraces and floodplains and we finally have success hunting the woozle

 

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what's the first thing you say to yourself?”

“What's for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”

“I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting to-day?” said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It's the same thing,” he said.”

Winnie the Pooh

 

 

 

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an elephant greets us on arrival

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an unexpected visitor as we arrive in camp after our first afternoon drive

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view from our tent

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an introductory drive around the floodplains

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“Expectations are high and it makes me apprehensive. I want so much out of this place; I want to like it as much as everyone else appears to and I want to take home some of the light that I’ve seen others capture. The first afternoon drive leaves me overwhelmed and underwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the size of the place and underwhelmed by my efforts.

As I sit here today after our first morning drive I feel a little better about everything. Despite another long and fruitless effort tracking lions, lions whose mocking calls taunt us and whose spoor criss cross the track in front of us, it has been a great morning with excellent sightings.

There is a haze over the Zambian escarpment that towers over the Zambezi river in front of our small camp at Mucheni 4. The bee eaters in front of me are very busy catching their afternoon tea. The Cape Turtle Dove continues calling but apart from that it is quiet. In the distance an elephant approaches our tent, much as it did yesterday as it greeted our initial arrival. When we returned from our afternoon drive we were surprised by a leopard walking around our tent. Such a nice welcome.

 

Soon we will set off again, just as a pleasant breeze picks up.”

 

 

Our first morning starts off well.

 

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On our first morning's drive we ventured out of the vehicle and stretched our legs. We were looking for woozles lions but with no luck on that front we photographed some of the fine eland available.

 

The first bit of excitement came when we rounded a corner and found a hyaena carrying part of a hippo carcass. Doug encouraged me to "slide like a crocodile out of the vehicle and approach the hyaenas carefully". Well, after lots of laughter all around I clumsily climbed out of the 4x4 and crouched on the ground. The animals were reasonably comfortable with me sidling up to them and I managed to take a few photos before they decided to take their prize and head off.

 

When I returned home I learned a little more about what had happened prior to us seeing them. Another visitor to Mana Pools had seen a big fight between lions and hyaenas over hippo remains and a lion cub was killed during this. Looking back now, I wonder if that is the fight that caused the loss of half a tail on a lioness we found a few days later. She appeared to be lactating and was calling for her cub. Her tail was still raw. At the time we thought she'd been caught in an inter pride rivalry because we'd witnessed some of that, but this seems to be a more likely cause.

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Definitely better than breakfast

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Thank you for posting this trip report - it's only 5 weeks until we leave for our own adventure with Doug to Mana Pools. Another Safaritalker heading out with him!

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Thank you for posting this trip report - it's only 5 weeks until we leave for our own adventure with Doug to Mana Pools. Another Safaritalker heading out with him!

 

 

You will have a fabulous time I'm sure. He is a very good host and great fun and you'll be further into the season with higher levels of activity.

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That afternoon we walked close to elephants for the first time. Closer than I ever imagined with a couple of them deciding that the tree next to us was just the very tree that they’d wanted to investigate all along. And so they came closer and closer until I could no longer fit even their heads in the frame. It was quite an introduction. On our walk to sit behind a fallen tree Doug spotted a leopard making its escape from us. Two in two days was more than we ever expected.

 

 

But then everyone who has ever been to Mana will know just how it feels so there is no need for me to describe it in any more detail except to say that it was quite thrilling. Better even than breakfast!

 

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What follows is an assortment of photos from different walks around the place. One of my favourite places was in the mopane forest past the Ruckomechi concession. It was completely silent of human noise and simply serene. Maybe animal sightings were slow in some parts, but then there were the unexpected things like seeing a civet curled up in the leaves in the morning light. Or sitting for some time with dwarf mongoose as they busied themselves around their termite mound. There was the herd of buffalo heading through the forest, the contrast between the beauty of the trees and the dourness of the buffaloes. Little things like the bush squirrel with his wild basil. Certainly a place that I would explore in more detail another time.

 

Hippo watching was another rewarding walk destination although the hippo pod at Long Pool were becoming distinctly threatening the closer we came to sunset.

 

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Random elephants over the week we were on the flood plains including a rather feisty bull who demanded we leave his space immediately. Of course, we backed off and continued our walk in another direction.

 

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Better than breakfast, but I bet it made breakfast so much better!

 

Now things are really hotting up - and the camera motors too! I was going to say that you're going to succeed at communicating the familiar Mana Pools magic with a touch of @@twaffle at a canter..... but then the last post* went up, and well you've already succeeded. Lo.ving this - more I have to say than the dressage - regardless of how pretty those horses are.

 

The words were worth it by the way - very glad I took the time to read them slowly.

 

How was the walking and slithering like a crocodile with that knee? And all the sitting on the ground - I think that can be worse for the knees than standing sometimes.

 

* Last two posts - the elephant pictures are wonderful with the first just "Mana-that's-it".

Edited by pault
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@@pault Wildlife with breakfast is probably the best combination of them all.

 

Thanks for reading the words although I relied on the photos more than dialogue this trip mainly due to lack of time now I'm home. Time, time ….. never enough.

 

The knee held up most of the time although kneeling was a problem. Sitting wasn't so bad but getting up from sitting wasn't much fun. I'm ashamed to say that I relented in the end and let Doug carry my camera bag and I carried my camera and long lens. It just ended up causing us all problems when I carried it myself and I think Doug thought the best option was to take it himself. So as age catches up with me, my war wounds start to effect my safari plans and I feel just a little annoyed about it all. A knee that's wonky but not needing replacement yet, 2 herniated discs in my neck that I'd like to replace but I think that won't be a thing in my lifetime and migraines. However, the good news was that it was only my knee that caused me problems and a bug that some b#*@!&^ gave me on the plane, and everything else behaved. Even my husband! :rolleyes:

 

And Doug hasn't prohibited me from coming on another safari so that really is a miracle. :P

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More elephants, this time from an evening's walk along the water's edge.

 

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At last we walk successfully onto the lions but it isn't an easy sighting. There is a new boy in town and he is not at all comfortable with walk ins and the pride has killed something that is hidden in thick grass next to the water. They are down the other side of a bank from the road so it's hard to see them to know where best to go. The sighting is very compromised, too hard to see what all the cats are doing or where they are and we can't get a clear sight for any photos. We decide to leave them and come back later.

 

We do have a little bit of action with 2 lionesses coming a little too close to this pride and getting chased off vigorously.

 

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“Sunday.

The early morning is as cold as we’ve had on safari, or so it feels. Every now and then a breeze drifts across the vehicle bringing a waft of mahogany scent with it. Not strong, but an indication that the trees are starting to flower.

 

In contrast, shortly afterwards our senses are assailed by the distinctive scent of cat, a cat we can’t see but it lies heavy in the air.”

 

And eventually we came back to the lions late that afternoon and spent some good light with them but only briefly.

 

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Some of the more observant of you may have noticed Doug wearing a pith in the previous set of photos. The proud owner of a brand new model given to him part way through our stay at Mucheni 4, he wore it for the remainder of our safari and received some cheerful ribbing and strange looks from some of the other professional guides.

 

So for @@Game Warden benefit, here are some photos gathered over a couple of days.

 

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The serenity of Long Pool.

 

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In which Eeyore loses a tail and Piglet finds one

 

Monday, and our time is almost finished.

There’s no denying that some safaris are filled with ‘near miss moments’ and others are filled with ‘how did we get so lucky’ ones. No doubt we had our fair share of both.

Our luckiest moment would have to be the crocodile leaping out of the Umi river and snapping at an elephant’s trunk. The shock the poor heffalump suffered was almost comical to behold.

In the near miss moments would have to be listed the 5 minute window where we missed the wild dog kill. Returning past the spot later, unaware of the drama that we had just missed a few hours earlier, we noticed a lone vulture picking at an impala skull. Doug read the scene as a wild dog kill. The bitten off end of a dog tail being the final give away. Perhaps a hyaena raid on the dog party was the cause and given that we had seen hyaenas rushing about with animal remains in their jaws on our first drive further up this stretch of road that morning, it seemed likely. Meeting Foster, another guide, after we left the site of the kill, he confirmed that his group had come across the scene with dogs still there moments after talking to us in the morning. Bad luck.

It was a bit of a theme with missing tails. The lioness we had found earlier had also just lost her tail, the end of it looking raw and sore.

 

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“Now it is our last afternoon rest time and it feels more sultry than previously. The Zambezi river has fallen noticeably since yesterday with more sandy islands showing themselves. Our trip is almost finished and it’s time to hit the reality of our working life again. Going home with cards full of hard earned photos of beautiful scenery and wonderful experiences, I know that the memories of a first trip to Zimbabwe will be with me for a long time.”

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Camp Moments:

The baboons are screaming again but they haven’t been much of an issue in camp. Unlike the hyaenas. Watching Doug race around camp at 1 am in the morning, half dressed and banging on the chewed lid of the esky, trying to send the animals packing was very funny. They had eaten wine glasses, chewed chairs, scattered things all over the place and created mayhem.

An elephant cow and calf had been picking pods from around our tents before being surprised by the hyaenas and their shouting contributed to the excitement.

The constant stream of elephants through camp has been wonderful but it’s mating time for the hippos and the noise coming from the river is extraordingar.

The white fronted bee eaters have been sitting on an old dead tree in front of the fireplace the whole time we’ve been here, and it’s a delight to watch them.

 

Wild dogs continue to evade us but we try one last time. The dogs from this morning were seen heading towards the mopane woodlands near Kanga Pan. We have driven up to the road and found the tracks from this morning and now have found a viewing spot where they might cross the road.

The light is changing and there is a soft glow spreading across the clearing.

A few birds are finishing off their days work with intermittent calls. Doug fills the waiting time explaining the nesting habits of the mopane bees whilst we have a drink.

The clearing is pretty, circled on one side by mopane woodlands and by jesse on the other. The grass is golden, sticky love grass, which doesn’t have much nutrition value but its feathery appearance creates the soft look of the place.

The sky over the Zambian escarpment is starting to colour a soft pink providing a lovely background to the leafless wing pod trees and crocodile barks along the horizon.

But the dogs can’t be seen.

 

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Our last morning

 

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Looking for dogs on the way to the airstrip

And the dogs? We never did find them despite quite a few tries but although Doug was not happy about our unfortunate luck with them, I reassured him that I would surely see them easily enough on my next trip with his compatriot Steve Carrey … he was not amused!! :P

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As we fly off from Mana Pools, ready for the long flight home, I reflect yet again on how lucky I am. That the many National Parks and wilderness areas of the many African countries hold such a vast array of different and varied experiences that it would be impossible to become jaded by it all.

 

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“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard”

Winnie the Pooh

 

 

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“And by and by Christopher Robin came to an end of things, and he was silent, and he sat there, looking out over the world, just wishing it wouldn’t stop.“

Winnie the Pooh

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So many familiar places and scenes and all with a bit of 'twaffle' as well as 'Mana' magic.

 

Very lucky daylight sighting of a leopard. although we have always been lucky with night time sightings at Mucheni 4.

 

Too many lovely elephant pictures to pick a favourite.

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@@twaffle

 

This is over much too soon.

 

So pleased you enjoyed Mana - don't worry about the dogs, you will see them next time you go - and there is always a next time!

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So many familiar places and scenes and all with a bit of 'twaffle' as well as 'Mana' magic.

 

Very lucky daylight sighting of a leopard. although we have always been lucky with night time sightings at Mucheni 4.

 

Too many lovely elephant pictures to pick a favourite.

Thank you for your kind words. I will happily return to Zimbabwe, it wasn't at all what I expected and I had so much fun.

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Page 2

 

Even Winnie the Pooh would be speechless at that purplish hazy sunset (I believe) shot!

 

Your assortment of elephants even included one even reaching for the moon! I hope the feisty bull encounter was not unnerving.

 

Mongoose are not the first animal to come to mind when Mana Pools is mentioned, but you have some lovely portraits.

 

You catch those leaping impala at the height of their jump. And nice job on the fleeing croc where you caught some actual reptile and not just the splash.

 

The safaritalker parade through Mana Pools with Doug in the lead keeps flowing--Julie M and the I'll be back with Doug.

 

Wild dogs eluded us as well last year, not even a tell-tale tail.

 

 

The lions appeared on page 3. So glad you saw them after their taunting calls. The aggressive behavior of the pride on your first encounter may have been lingering upset at the hyena encounter.

 

I have to ask whether picture #3 of Doug in post #42 was posed? Last year he was wearing a birthday crown, this year a pith. He's gaining quite a reputation for head gear.

 

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard” You and Winnie have that right.

 

This is one more testament to Mana Pools with Doug! What a wonderful trip you had!

Edited by Atravelynn
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